quid pro quo
by jayer
Summary: a favor is returned. post secrets and lies. sequel to all in a days frustration
1. Chapter 1

"Flight 112." Spencer scanned the monitor. "There is it. Luggage Claim 8." Spencer took off at a light job, Derek Morgan trailing just behind him.

Derek laughed. "You are something else, Reid."

"What?"

"You're like a kid at Christmas. All over a couple of city cops."

"One, they aren't just city cops. They are detectives, very good detectives." Spencer said, a hint of defensiveness in his voice. "And Danny Messer saved my life."

Spencer stopped at the barricade and leaned over, scanning the crowd. There were easily three hundred passengers crowded around the four luggage ramps.

"There's Flack." Spencer waved at a tall, lanky fellow with dark hair. A second man, slightly shorter and sporting a flipped around cap and glasses looked up as his friend nudged him.

Moments later, they were crossing the security barrier.

"Yo, Spencer." The shorter fellow gave him a one armed hug. "How's the arm?"

"My back hand is still a little off." Spencer laughed.

"You play tennis?" The taller fellow asked.

"No. But I'm hell at the ping pong table."

"We'll see about that."

"He's telling the truth." Derek laughed. "I've had to buy lunch every day for the last week."

"This is Derek Morgan. He's BAU." Spencer nodded to his fellow agent. "These are Detective Don Flack, Homicide, and Detective Danny Messer, CSI."

"My pleasure." Derek shook their hands. "Reid's been yakking about you guys and your team since he came back. You'd think he'd met some big superstar. Angelina Jolie, or maybe that British chick from the Disney flicks."

Derek led the way out of the terminal to the car left at the curb claiming 'official FBI duty'. Membership did have a few useful privileges.

Danny and Don both laughed.

"I think I'm gonna like this guy." Danny laughed.

"They remind me of you and Montana. Only without the unresolved sexual tension."

"I told you, I don't like her like that."

"So you won't mind if I ask her out."

"Be my guest. Just watch out. She's tougher than she looks. Serious right hook."

"Montana?" Derek looked at Spencer.

"Another detective. Lindsay Monroe."

"From Montana right." Derek popped the trunk and tossed the luggage inside.

"Right."

Rush hour traffic meant it took over an hour to drive from the airport in Fairfax to Quantico. They stopped at the dorms, dropped off Danny and Don's bags and then drove to the BAU headquarters.

"You do this for everyone?" Danny asked as Security handed them visitor passes.

"No. But Gideon wanted to meet you." Spencer led the way up the stairs to the unit office.

A dark haired woman approached them as they entered the general office. "I'm Elle Greenaway."

"Hello, Agent Greenaway." Don grinned. "I'm Don. Flack. Homicide."

"What about Montana?" Danny whispered.

"Intra office relationships are messy."

"These the guys?" A man and woman walked up.

Spencer nodded and quickly introduced Hotch and JJ to their visitors.

"Gideon just left a training seminar. He'll be here in a moment. Would you gentleman care for coffee?"

"Sure. Thanks."

"Agent Jareau?"

"Please, call me JJ."

"Can I ask you something?" Danny said as they waited for Gideon.

"As long as it's not a matter of national security."

"I don't think so." Danny laughed. "I have a friend that lives here and I wanted to take her out for dinner."

"You need a suggestion."

"Yeah."

"Fancy, not so fancy."

"Not so fancy. And she's rather a unique person."

"Unique?"

"Freethinker, smart, not the type to work in an office in a suit."

"Lucio's." JJ said with a grin. "Laid back, great pizzas. Even better calzones. Plus a second level bar/cantina/pool hall with a fantastic microbrewery. You eat, go shoot some pool, listen to some very pretentious gang of local kids that thinks they can be big one day and are actually pretty good."

"Sounds like you've been there before?"

"My cousin is a bartender there."

"Cool. I bet Penelope will love it."

"Penelope? Our Penelope?"

"Yeah." Danny laughed at her look. "Long story."

"Detectives." A man strode into the room. "I'm Jason Gideon and I'm very pleased you came." He glanced at Don. "No matter the impetus."

"Thank you for sending Spencer to help us with the Stokes case."

"Reid gave us an overview of the case but I wonder if you wouldn't mind giving me a full retelling. Perhaps over dinner."

Danny blushed. "I have plans."

"He has a date." Derek laughed. "With Garcia."

"So that's why she came to work dressed extra special." Elle laughed.

"uh." Danny gulped.

"Don't worry," JJ laughed. "Special just means that she made sure none of the pattern's clashed."

"Cool." Danny looked at Gideon. "If that's not a problem."

Gideon nodded. "Tomorrow will be fine. Provided we don't get called away. Of course."

"Of course."

"While Danny's off playing Romeo, I was hoping I might find a gym, work on my jump shot so I can stop buying all the time."

Derek lit up. "You play?"

"Street rules."

"Just the way I like it."

Spencer looked around the room with an amused grin. He'd been a little nervous about how the team would treat Don and Danny. Danny, in particular, had been so accepting of him from the start. Not treating him like a freak because of his bizarre genius and nervousness around strangers. He didn't his friend getting a cold shoulder.

But watching Derek and Don talking about basketball and JJ drawing a map for Danny while he, Hotch and Gideon talked about forensics. It was like they had been there for years. And it made him feel really good. They accepted Danny and Don the way he had been accepted by the CSI team.

"Earth to Reid." A voice cut into his thoughts. "That's him right." Garcia nodded at Danny, whose back was to the door.

"Yeah, that's Danny." Spencer glanced at Garcia. Elle was right. She did look extra special. She had on a long skirt and what appeared to be a vintage peasant blouse with tiny flowers embroidered around the collarr. Her hair was pinned back with two clips that looked like roses. "Wow."

"What?"

"You look really nice."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."


	2. Chapter 2

"Smart."

"Careful planner"

"Observant."

"Charming."

"Knows or researches criminal investigative methods and law."

"Anonymous."

"Very good." Hotch nodded to the class. "Now, think back over some of your previous cases. Do any of them remind you of any of these classifications? It won't always be a perfect match, but just something familiar."

There was a moment of silence. Spencer walked from the back of the room with Gideon.

"DJ Pratt." Danny spoke up from the second row.

"Organized or disorganized."

"Organized." Don chimed in. "Definitely organized."

Hotch leaned back against the table, folding his arms in his classic relaxed pose. "Why?"

"Guy was a rapist. Picked his targets carefully. Watched them. Followed them."

"Yeah. Rape is about control not sex." Danny added. "But for Pratt, it was like the thrill was as much in the chase as the catch."

"Pratt was an apartment painter. Gave him a way to watch women without being noticed."

"He wasn't perfect with the details though. Left DNA a couple of times."

"And that's how you caught him."

"No. The first victim refused to testify and the second had had sex with another man the same night."

"So the guy got off the charges because you couldn't prove that either time was non consensual." A raven haired female detective from Vegas said with disgust.

"Not exactly." Danny said soberly. "We just had to catch him on another crime."

"So he escalated?" Hotch turned to the room. "Often that is, unfortunately, when an organized unsub is caught. They leave the familiar script because it's not enough or they are pressured into a new action. A hero homicide shooter takes a group of doctors and patients hostage in an ER. A rapist moves on to . . ."

"Killing a cop." Danny finished the sentence. There was a sudden and thick silence in the room. "A detective. Same detective that was running one of the rape cases. Set her up to thinking he was about to rape again and killed her. But not before she made sure we had all the evidence we would need."

"Atta girl. Kick the bastard in the nuts." Vegas murmured.

"Indeed." Hotch nodded to Spencer and Gideon.

"Tomorrow we are going to take things to a more practical level." Gideon spoke as he walked to the front of the room. "I'll be presenting a very real, albeit faked, case to you and we'll see if you can apply what you have learned over the last few days to decoding the unsubs behavior. Consider it your mid-term exam."

"Shouldn't that be final exam, sir?"

"That will be every case you work after this."

The various detectives and techs gathered their things and made their way to the dining hall for dinner.

"I spoke with Lieutenant Taylor this afternoon." Gideon said to Don and Danny by way of greeting. "Told him I was very impressed with how the both of you have taken to this training session."

"Thank you, sir." Danny smiled. "It's been very interesting. Especially after working with Agent Reid in the field."

"Of course he warned me that he would, and I quote "Kick your ass if you even think of trying to steal two of my best detectives". Not that I would dare." Gideon laughed.

"We're sort of a twisted little family. It would be like kidnapping one of his children."

"Still, I do hope you'll consider continuing your educations in this regard. I could recommend some reading material."

"Most of it written by you, right?" Danny said teasingly. His smile dropped when he realized Gideon wasn't laughing.

"Only half." Gideon finally said grinning. "Now I believe you still owe me a case history."

"Yes sir."

"Good. The others are waiting for us at Feng Chow."

"Place is a hole in the wall." Hotch walked up, "But the food is fantastic."

"Let's blaze then."


	3. Chapter 3

There was a certain calm in the early morning. Just after dawn when the sun was rising but the air was still cool and crisp.

Spencer loved the mornings. He'd never been one for team sports. Always too small and slight, thanks to being six years younger than his classmates. Track was the only thing he was allowed to participate in, given the lack of contact with his teammates. Cross country was his speciality. He loved it because he could just let his mind go and focus on his stride and his breathing for miles. It was his meditation. Even when the team was out in the field, he'd try to find a half hour to run. It let him clear his head, energize. And it didn't hurt that it kept him in shape if he ever needed to chase down, or out run, an unsub.

That last detail was the same logic Danny had given for taking daily runs, as well as working out at the local gym. Normally Spencer preferred to run alone but the FBI academy was located on a Marine base and their military brethren weren't very cool with visitors hitting the trails alone. So Spencer had volunteered to be Danny's running buddy so his friend wouldn't be shot on sight.

And it was nice in a strange way to have someone there. Danny made him push a little harder. Unspoken sense of competition. After four mornings, he was going to miss the companionship.

"You okay?" Spencer dropped a few feet to pace himself with Danny.

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Handle another half mile before we turn back?"

"Bring it on." Danny grinned.

Spencer lead the way further down the path. He usually ran to the old checkpoint just before the marine drill area and back. It was a solid five mile run and even taking it easy, he could cover the whole thing in less than an hour. Plenty of time for them to shower and have a nice breakfast with the others before Danny and Don's flight home.

Minutes later, they were looping around the checkpoint and turning back. As they made the turn, something caught Spencer's eye. He slowed, jogging off the trail.

"Oh my god." Danny said as they reached the object.

Spencer pulled out the phone he had to keep on him even during his morning runs.

"This is Special Agent Spencer Reid. I need a crime scene detail at marker 12, south side. We have a DOA." He informed the dispatch officer. He dialed a second number. "Gideon. It's Reid. You better get down here."

Within minutes there were several vehicles in the area. Don and Morgan climbed out of a car with Gideon.

"What's going on?"

Spencer pointed to the body. "It's Carson."

"Damm." Morgan hissed under his breath.

"You know the guy?" Danny asked.

Spencer nodded. "He was a BAU agent."


End file.
